Jersey City, Boonton in dispute over repairing cliff that threatens to damage properties in Irene's wake

View full sizeRobert Sciarrino/The Star-LedgerA washed out hillside, which was created after Hurricane Irene turned the Rockaway River into a raging torrent. Boonton officials and Jersey City are battling over who is responsible for the slope that was washed out behind Harrison Street.

Teresa Davenport wants to sell her Boonton house on Harrison Street, a suburban road with modest homes, white picket fences and manicured lawns. She knew the market was bad, but she had to go because about a year ago she took a new job in Virginia. The house had selling points. It backed to a gentle stream, part of the Rockaway River, adjacent to Interstate 287.

Then Irene arrived.

The floodwaters turned the gentle stream into a raging river, snapping tree trunks like twigs and wiping out a chunk of the interstate.

The highway was repaired within a week. The state saw to that. But the slope, which became a 40-foot cliff that threatens to swallow the Harrison Street homes, remains just as Mother Nature left it — nine months ago. And no one wants to bear the multi-million dollar cost to shore up the soil and prevent the possibility of Harrison’s houses sliding down that slope.

“No one in their right mind would buy my house,” Davenport said. “And I really need to sell it.”

The slope is owned by Jersey City, as part of its reservoir. Boonton wants Jersey City to pay for the repairs. Jersey City says it is not liable.

Davenport is just one player caught in a bureaucratic quagmire that has ensnared two municipalities, several homeowners and even a state senator.

“I don’t know who to appeal to,” Davenport said. “All I know is it’s not right.”

The impasse has been equally frustrating for the two property owners whose homes are closest to the slope. Town engineers deemed the two rental properties uninhabitable for fear that one good storm could erode enough soil to cause a landslide, sinking the homes.

The landlords remain responsible for their mortgages and property taxes but they can no longer have tenants.

Earlier this month, James Riter, who owns one of the two homes that were evacuated, went to Jersey City’s council to plead his case.

“I wanted to get on the record my frustrations because no one from Jersey City has ever contacted me,” Riter said. “They are not doing anything about an unsafe condition on their property.”

Riter recounted his ordeal. He begged the council to take responsibility so he could again rent his property.

“This unfortunate issue has turned my life upside down,” he told the council. “Your lack of action has rendered a property that had been a significant asset to my wife and me, uninhabitable and worthless.”

Jersey City’s response remains the same today as it was immediately after the August storm. Irene was an act of God, said Bill Matsikoudis, Jersey City’s attorney.

“The condition complained of, while unusual, is entirely natural,” Matsikoudis wrote in a letter to Boonton last fall. “New Jersey recognizes that a defendant is not liable when injuries occur as a result of extraordinary and unforeseeable events.”

The other home that was evacuated belongs to state Sen. Anthony Bucco (R-Morris). Anthony Della Pelle, the attorney representing Bucco, said Matsikoudis’ argument doesn’t hold water because Jersey City should not be allowed to let the problem, which is threatening other private properties, linger.

Jersey City’s responsibility, he said, derives from the continuing harm the slope is causing other properties and the future harm that could be caused if nothing is done.

Bucco grew up on Harrison Street and now uses the home as a rental property. But the longtime senator has had no luck affecting change.

“Since Hurricane Irene struck our area last August, tens of thousands of people in New Jersey have struggled to reclaim their property and a sense of normalcy in their lives. My neighbors and I are among them,” Bucco said in an e-mail.

“The Riters and I have taken our case to the officials of Jersey City, which owns the adjacent reservoir property that has eroded, and whose residents benefit from the water provided by the reservoir, but the city officials do not want to take responsibility for the damage. Instead, Jersey City officials have laid blame elsewhere.”

At the council meeting, Jack Kelly, Jersey City’s business administrator, expressed sympathy for Riter’s plight but said the federal government should step in because a “natural disaster” was to blame.

Kelly added that the city believes the state is to blame because it rerouted the Rockaway River after a portion of Interstate 287 collapsed from flooding, leading to the erosion on the slope near Riter’s home.

“There was no action or inaction by the city that created this issue,” Kelly said at the meeting.

It sounds like a stalemate, but time is not a luxury Harrison Street homeowners feel they have. Each rain means a bit more soil is washed away, according to Boonton engineers.

“There has been a lot of finger-pointing and blame-shifting, but that does not help solve the problem,” Bucco said, “nor will it prevent the erosion problem from getting worse and ensnaring more people in its dangerous trap. There will be more flood victims in the near future. We cannot allow these people to suffer the bureaucratic nightmare that has befallen us in Boonton. Federal, state, county and municipal governments need to sort out the responsibilities for repairing flood damage so property owners can get their lives back on track as soon as possible.”

Riter and Anthony Della Pelle both said they are considering litigation as a recourse but have not yet decided to move forward, hoping that all parties can reach a more amicable solution.

“I don’t know,” Riter said. “It seems to me there has to be some solution other than watching two houses fall into the cliff.”